Breaking down Evander’s salary structure at FC Cincinnati

Evander has quickly become one of the defining players at FC Cincinnati. Acquired in February 2025 in a record $12 million trade from the Portland Timbers, the Brazilian attacking midfielder delivered immediate returns, finishing the 2025 MLS season with 18 goals and 15 assists.

Beyond his on-field production, Evander’s contract offers a useful window into how Major League Soccer structures elite player compensation — and why the league remains attractive to high-level South American talent.

Evander earns a base salary of $3.2 million in MLS, with total guaranteed compensation of $4.73 million in 2025, placing him among the league’s highest-paid Designated Players.

Base Salary

Evander’s base salary for the 2025 season is $3.2 million. As a Designated Player, that figure reflects the guaranteed annual wage stipulated in his contract, excluding bonuses and other add-ons.

His deal runs through the 2026 season and includes a club option for 2027, placing him firmly among MLS’s highest earners. For comparison, the league’s minimum base salary sits under $100,000, underscoring the gap between Designated Players and standard roster contracts.

The base salary reflects both Evander’s market value and his track record, built through strong spells in Denmark, Brazil, and MLS prior to the move.

Guaranteed Compensation

Evander’s average guaranteed compensation for 2025 is reported at $4,736,411. This figure includes his base salary plus guaranteed bonuses, signing incentives, and amortized agent fees, as defined by the MLS Players Association.

The gap of more than $1.5 million between base salary and guaranteed compensation highlights a common MLS approach: layering incentives and guarantees onto contracts without inflating the base figure alone. In league-wide terms, that compensation level places Evander comfortably inside the top tier of MLS earners, trailing only the league’s global headliners such as Lionel Messi.

Illustration: Pie chart breaks down the 2025 guaranteed compensation of Evander, highlighting the split between his base Designated Player salary and additional guaranteed bonuses and fees under Major League Soccer’s contract structure.

How MLS Contracts Work

MLS operates under a single-entity structure in which the league holds player contracts, while clubs manage rosters within a fixed financial framework.

For 2025, the league salary budget was $5.47 million per team. Clubs can exceed that figure through specific mechanisms, most notably:

• Designated Players (DPs): Teams may roster up to three DPs, each carrying a maximum salary budget charge of $651,250, regardless of actual pay.
• Allocation Money: General Allocation Money (GAM) and Targeted Allocation Money (TAM) allow clubs to reduce cap hits, retain players, or fund new acquisitions.
• Roster Structure: Squads are divided into senior, supplemental, and off-budget slots, each with its own salary rules.

This framework is designed to maintain competitive balance while still allowing teams to invest heavily in star players, a practice that began with David Beckham's arrival in MLS many years ago.

MLS vs. Brazil: Salary Context

Evander’s career path — from Brazil to Europe and then MLS — reflects broader financial trends between leagues. The player has left the decision to return to Brazil open, but given how much he makes today, we have to break it down in terms of how the business of running a soccer roster is usually conducted, south of the Equator to see how financially viable a return to Brazil would be.

In Brazil’s Série A, average annual salaries hover around $300,000, with younger players earning less and only a handful of stars reaching multi-million-dollar levels. By contrast, MLS’s median guaranteed compensation exceeded $338,000 in 2025, with averages closer to $400,000. Of course, the cost of living in the US can be much higher, but Brazilian players tend to live a much more lavish life, so it's a factor that likely cancels itself.

While Brazilian clubs generate revenues comparable to many MLS teams, higher debt levels and export-driven business models often limit wage growth. MLS, by contrast, offers greater financial predictability and contract security — a key factor for players in their prime years, where Evander finds himself - he's no longer a prospect.

Why It Matters

Evander’s deal illustrates how MLS’s financial structure shapes the transfer market. Salary caps in MLS, as criticized as they are, prevent unchecked spending that put Brazilian teams in high waters at times. Yet, the Designated Player slots and allocation mechanisms create flexibility for ambitious clubs like LAFC and Inter Miami.

In the case of Evander, Cincinnati secured a marquee player without compromising roster balance, while Portland generated allocation resources that can be reinvested elsewhere. The structure seems to have rewarded both sides of the equation.

More broadly, the North American system continues to position MLS as a competitive destination for South American talent — not by matching Europe’s prestige, which, in all honesty, is getting much harder to attain, but by offering stability, clarity, and increasingly competitive compensation from the middle of the pack and up.